Only the Beginning
by IsadoraMaryAlice
Summary: Little Helga wishes for change in her life. Will she have them? Could it be in the form of her lovely prince Arnold?


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of it's characters. It belongs to the wonderful Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon. No money is being made from this story and no copyright infringement is intended.

**Author's Note:** Hello all, and welcome to my first ever fan fiction! Let me tell you a bit about it.

This one shot is about how Helga met Arnold for the first time. We all know how it went (canon-wise) in the episode 'Helga on the Couch', but if I wrote it exactly like that, then it wouldn't have been original on my part, now would it? So, this story takes place before that event. If you want to, imagine it this way: THAT part of the episode happens after the happenings of this story (with some minor adjustments to fit this one, of course).

**Warnings:** None so far.

And now, onto the story. :)

**Only the Beginning **

It was a strange and quiet night in the Pataki residence. Little Helga decided it was because her big sister, Olga, was playing a new song she had learned in the piano for their parents. She grudgingly admitted to herself that it was quite beautiful. Currently sprawled all over her bed, she listened to the song, which happened to be as sad as her.

Earlier that afternoon, she had drawn her family in a beautiful landscape, as precisely as a four-year-old could, anyway. She had dubbed it a masterpiece, one that deserved to be plastered all over their refrigerator, or as she called it, the food machine. Running all the way down to the living room, she showed her dad the painting, to which he responded with a "Whatever Olga."

"It's Helga, dad". But the sentence went unheard, since he loudly shouted at the football player on the TV to "Play like a man, you girly piece of crap!"

Deciding that her mom would probably respond better to her job well done, she went to the kitchen, where she was making dinner and drinking God knew what.

"Hey mom, look at what I did!" she happily exclaimed.

"Wow, honey, that is... Ugh. Need another drink."

And as her mom totally ignored her, she felt sad. Not for the first time, she wondered if they had brains, or if zombies really existed and had eaten them. Going back to her bedroom, she started thinking. If no one cared for what she did, like the beautiful piece of paper she had gripped tightly in her hands, then she wouldn't care either. Releasing the tears she had hidden from her parents, she ripped the paper in tiny pieces and threw it out the window.

Dinner time strolled by, and they could be seen gathered at the table, where Olga was excitingly telling them about the day she had had.

"..And then we went shopping, and Oh My Gosh! I just had to have it! So, when I came back, I started learning the song right away. That music book has come in handy, and it was on sale, too! It has so many songs I've wanted to learn. In fact, I can play the song I've been practicing right now! Want to listen?"

"Sure, Olga, we'd love too, honey" Miriam said, with all the happiness a mother could radiate for her daughter. Their father joined in, saying "I'm very proud of you, Olga. I can't wait until college. You'll be the very best, I just know it! A Pataki, through and through."

They stood and left the table, ignoring the dirty dishes and a crestfallen Helga.

She ran to her room, and cried what she thought of as currents of water cascading from her eyes.

Now, lying on her bed and listening to the song, she started drifting of to sleep.

That night, she had a dream. A very weird one. She was a princess, with a pink dress and a tiara on the top of her head. No heals, she disliked those. Instead, she wore tennis shoes, the color matching that of the dress. She thought herself pretty, with her big, blue eyes and blond hair tucked in a ponytail. Her unibrow didn't disturb her in the least. It was a part of her, how could it?

What had her afraid, though, was that she was trapped inside a tower, with a vicious green dragon flying around it as guard. It was like Rapunzel, she decided, without the long hair of course. But then, if it was anything like the fairytale, then she _should _have a prince, right?

And a prince she did have. Except, she couldn't make out his features. She could see the flying white horse gliding towards her tower, and somehow she knew the prince was the one riding it, but nothing gave away what he looked like.

Oh, but the feeling of having someone rescue her because they cared was there, and how she wished _that_ part of the dream were _real. _It was amazing, to say the least. And after he beat the dragon, he told Princess Helga to not worry, that everything would be fine.

"When?" she asked. "I need to know, please."

"Pretty soon, I promise."

And when she woke up, she believed him. Her sadness forgotten, she got ready for her first day of preschool, wearing her favorite pink jumper and pink bow. She was excited, and a bit scared, but nothing else mattered. Everything would be fine. Until she got out of her room and noticed her parents were still sleeping. Heading towards their room, she knocked with urgency on it and said "Hey! I've got preschool today! Who's going to take me?"

She heard her mother say, in a bored tone of voice "Oh right, I forgot, sorry."

Thirty minutes later and they still weren't ready. Helga was getting angry, and very annoyed. She screamed and begged to be heard, to no avail. An hour and a half later, she arrived at her new school, pretty late indeed. The caretaker was talking to her parents about the tardiness, and hoping that it would not be repeated, but Helga was not paying as much attention to them as she was to the other kids.

So many different colors, shapes and sizes! It all looked like a painting that came to life.

The caretaker introduced herself as Angelica, and as for anything Helga needed, she could always come and ask her. She then proceeded to give little Helga a tour of the place, which was WAY bigger than her house.

"And this is the 'box area', were we all leave our stuff, such as our bags and toys".

"You have toys too, Angelica?" she innocently asked.

"Of course! If you want, we can get together later on and play with the rest of the class. Is that alright?"

Helga nodded. She was looking forward to it, since she'd never seen a grown up play before.

Leaving her stuff behind, she then went to the small playground they had. Wanting to just observe, she sat down on a table, where she saw everyone in detail. From the skinny boy with a long nose and white cowboy boots, to the fat kid that was laughing at the red haired kid with freckles that fell down from the see-saw; the girl with straight brown hair on the swings with the short, black haired girl that was wearing glasses swinging next to her; and the other two girls that were chatting animatedly with each other, one with blond braids and the other one, wearing a red shirt, with black hair.

There was one particular group that had caught her attention. It was made of three boys playing on the sandbox, one tall enough to be an elementary school kid, the other one a chocolate colored kid with tall black hair, and one with an odd shaped head.

Helga didn't know why, but she suddenly found herself comparing that weird dream she had with this boy. So stuck to her daydreaming she was that she didn't notice the fat kid with the cowboy boots boy advance towards her.

"Hey!" the fat boy said. "Nice bow! You think I could borrow it for a moment?"

And then he took it off of her head and started running away with it, laughing uncontrollably. The other kids were laughing too, seeing in Helga someone who they could bully because of the way she looked, fragile. So she did the only thing that came to her mind, the one thing she wished she could do at home: defend herself.

Running after fatty, she tackled him to the floor and punched him on his big, fat stomach. While he gasped out in pain, she took her bow back and looked at him straight in the eyes while grabbing the front of his shirt.

"You listen here, and listen well. NO ONE messes with Helga G. Pataki. Understood?"

"Y.. yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Do it again, and I'll punch in the face, fatty."

Helga let go of him and he stumbled backwards while trying to get away from her. And as she looked around, she noticed all the kids looking at her.

"What are you looking at? You want a piece of me too?"

"Now Helga, that wasn't very nice!" Angelica said as she came running from her office, where she had seen the exchange between her kids.

"But he started it!"

"I know he did, I saw him. But that doesn't mean you'll go around hitting people. Promise me you won't do it again."

"But…!"

"Helga."

"Fine. I promise," she grumbled.

"Good. Now, everyone please, go inside. We will start coloring time as soon as everyone is there."

Heading inside and sitting by herself, Helga waited for the teacher to arrive. When she did, she gave the students paper and crayons to paint the first thing that came to their minds. And while she drew what she thought was a castle, like in her dream, a girl approached her. It was the short one with black hair and glasses. Helga looked up, surprised to see anyone near her after what had happened.

"Um…" she started, looking afraid of what the blond would say. "I'm sorry, but can I sit with you?"

"Why?"

"Well, because first, I want to. Second, I saw what happened, and he deserved it. And, I want to be your friend, if you let me."

Helga was shocked. She was going to have her very first friend if she accepted! So, without any doubts in her mind, she answered "Alright. But some days, you have to do what I tell you to do. Understood?"

"U-huh!"

And in an excited voice, she started to talk, and talk, and talk some more. In between lines, Helga heard her name. Phoebe. It was nice. It suited her.

"Phoebe?"

"Yes, Helga?"

"Shut up, and start coloring already! Criminy!"

"Shutting up!"

During the remainder of the class, Helga learned the rest of her classmates names. Sidney, Harold, Eugene, Sheena, Nadine, Rhonda, Stinky, Gerald and Arnold.

Their last activity involved getting to know each other, and learning how to share. Helga was playing with Phoebe and Sheena with their dolls when suddenly, Harold passed by running and took her doll away. He was sneaky, because he knew that if Helga tried to hit him again, the teacher would get angry. And besides, Angelica was distracted by helping Rhonda dress her doll just like her.

She had no one to help her.

As Harold ran towards the boys, he started passing around the doll she borrowed from Sheena, and the boys started exclaiming how ugly it was. They all did it, except Arnold, who took the doll away from them and walked backed to where Helga was.

"Here," he said in a cheerful voice, and handed the doll back to her.

"Thanks".

"What's your name?"

"Helga."

"Well, Helga, it's nice to meet you" he said, and then went back to the boys.

"Um, I have to go potty," she told Phoebe and Sheena. "Be right back."

She hid in the bathroom corridor, next to a trash can, and looked back to where the boys where.

"Oh Arnold, so sweet and kind, gentle even. I never thought a prince from any fairy tale existed, but you just came out of the very best one. In my little heart, you start growing big, and I start seeing you for the very first time. Yet I will carry this as my secret, hide it away forever from the world, because no one can ever love someone like me."

As she finished her speech, she thought of one thing: she needed something with his picture on it, so that she could rant her monologues looking at it. Tomorrow she would make a heart from that colorful paper Angelica had, and then find the picture. Standing up to leave, she felt breathing on her ear. Reacting on instinct, she punched whoever it was in the nose, and looked down to see who it was. Oh, so _that_ was Brainy.

Not caring one bit for his safety, she went back to the class, ready to finish her day and head back home.

While she waited outside for her mom to pick her up, she saw the rest of the kids being greeted by their parents. It was nothing compared to what her mom looked like, bored, tired, and acting as if she were nothing but a chore. As she got inside the car, she noticed that Arnold was walking with what could possibly be his grandfather. They looked happy. She smiled at the picture, desiring it for her own. Arnold took a moment to look around, and spotted her car, returning her smile and waving goodbye. She blushed and hid from view, until her mom passed by them. And when she straightened up, she gave a loony little sigh.

At home, everything was still the same. The promise the prince had made with her hadn't come true. So, after dinner, she went straight to her room, got down on her knees, and prayed for the first time.

In her prayers, she asked for her parents and sister to be nice, to have more friends at school, and that everything would somehow turn okay for her. And when she closed her eyes to finally give in to sleep, she pictured Arnold, with that strange football headed shape adorned with a blue cap, and those round green eyes. Her prince from the dream took a life of its own and was made real. She wished for _everything_ to turn out the way she wanted.

But what Helga didn't understand yet, since in her childish mind nothing worse could happen, was that her life and everyone's around her had only just begun.


End file.
